I do not propose here to provide a full biography of Harris - for that I recommend Phillippa Pullar's exhaustive Frank Harris (1973). Instead I have taken what appear to me to be the key events of his life and set them out in the form of a timeline.
As an alternative, you can read one of Harris' own accounts of his life.
You may also want to examine the relationship between Harris and Wilde, or goggle at his sex life on the Loves page.
Contents
- 1856-1880 Childhood, America
- 1881-1899 London, The Successful Editor
- 1900-1913 The Successful Author, The Failing Editor
- 1914-1920 War, The Downward Slide
- 1921-1931 "Life and Loves", The End
1856-1880 Childhood, America
Feb 14 1856 |
born James Thomas Harris, in Galway, Ireland |
Early 1869 |
Attends Ruabon Grammar School, Denbighshire, Wales |
June? 1871 |
Sails for America from Liverpool |
? 1872 |
Arrives Lawrence, Kansas, meets up with his brother William |
? 1874 |
Enrols in the University of Kansas, as James Frank Harris (Thomas was his father's name, and this seems to have been a symbolic rejection of his father) |
June 25 1875 |
Graduates to the Douglas County Bar |
August ? 1875 |
Visits his sister Annette and his father now resident in Tenby, Wales |
Winter 1876 |
Gains post as tutor of French at Brighton College, England |
February 1878 |
Joins the Philology Department at Heidelberg University, Germany |
October 17 1878 |
Marries Florence Adams |
August 27 1879 |
Florence dies |
? late 1879-188? |
Travels in Europe: Berlin, Venice, Florence, Athens |
1881-1899 London, The Successful Editor
? 1882 |
Arrives in London |
July 7 1883 |
First piece published in the Spectator: a review of Some Impressions of the United States by E. A. Freeman |
1884 ? |
Gains editorship of the London Evening News |
July 1886 |
Leaves Evening News and becomes editor of the Fortnightly Review |
November 2 1887 |
Marries Emily Mary Clayton, a rich widow |
June 22 1889 |
Is adopted as Conservative candidate for the constituency of South Hackney, London |
December 12 1891 |
Resigns as Conservative candidate: Harris had shown sympathy to Parnell in the scandal that bears his name, a view decidedly out of step with traditional Conservative hypocrisy on the subject of adultery |
June 1891 |
Publishes first short story in the Fortnightly Review: 'A Modern Idyll'. |
? 1894 |
Loses editorship of the FortnightlyReview. Leaves his wife. |
October 1894 |
Purchases the Saturday Review |
? 1895 |
Publishes first collection of stories 'Elder Conklin' |
April 3 1895 |
Oscar Wilde rashly sues the Marquess of Queensberry for libel |
April 6 1895 |
Wilde charged with offences relating to the corruption of minors |
May 21 1895 |
Wilde sentenced to 2 years hard labour. Harris had begged him to skip bail and leave the country, but Wilde refused and stood trial. |
January 11 1896 |
Visits South Africa to report on the notorious Jameson raid debacle |
May 1897 |
Wilde released, leaves England for France |
? 1898 |
Takes up with both May Congden, who bears him a child, and Nellie O'Hara, with whom he is to share the rest of his life. Nellie's age is the subject of some speculation, as if her 1920's passport is believed her age at this time would have been eleven! One must assume that she lied about her age later in life, not an uncommon transgression. |
November 1898 |
Gives up the Saturday Review. |
End 1898 |
Enters the hotel business, building a restaurant in Eze and setting up a hotel in Monte Carlo, both of which eventually fail, amid recriminations about their financing |
1900-1913 The Successful Author, The Failing Editor
October 25 1900 |
Presents his play Mr. and Mrs. Daventry in London, at the Royalty Theatre. This play was written after an idea by Oscar Wilde, who neglected to tell Harris that he had also sold the play to a number of others, who therefore had to be paid off. Nevertheless the play was a modest success, and ran for about three months with a short break due to the death of Queen Victoria. |
? 1900 |
Publishes Montes the Matador, a second volume of short stories |
? 1900 |
Publishes How to Beat the Boer, a Conversation in Hades. |
December 1900 |
Oscar Wilde dies |
May 1 1901 |
Brings out the first issue of The Candid Friend, a society paper. |
August 9 1902 |
Last issue of The Candid Friend. |
January 7 1905 |
Appointed editor of the Motorist and Traveller by the Dunlop Tyre Company |
October 30 1905 |
Acting as agent, sells Winston Churchill's biography of his father Randolph to Macmillans publishers for £4,000. Churchill was very pleased by Harris' work on his behalf in this matter. |
January 1907 |
Purchases Vanity Fair |
September 7 1907 |
Travels to America, gathering material for articles for Vanity Fair and his other literary ventures |
Mid November 1907 |
Returns from America |
October 1908 |
Publishes his first novel, The Bomb. |
? 1909 |
Brings out The Man Shakespeare |
End 1909 |
Gives up Vanity Fair. Travels to Ravello, Italy at the invitation of Lord Grimthorpe. While there, writes his life of Oscar Wilde. |
April 1910 |
Finding Italy too expensive, goes to stay in Nice, France |
June 1911 |
Publishes his 'Thoughts on Morals' in the English Review. This essay, which espoused an un-English, but prototypically Harrisian, openness on sexual matters caused a minor scandal at the time, predictably causing high blood pressure in the reactionary editorial staff of the Spectator. The English Review itself also came under attack for advertising itself as 'The Great Adult Review'. |
August 1911 |
Back in England, first encounters Hugh Kingsmill Lunn (who dropped the 'Lunn' for his nom de plume). |
? 1911 |
The Women of Shakespeare published |
? 1912 |
Becomes the editor of Hearth and Home, a 'ladies paper'. Kingsmill and Enid Bagnold (who was briefly Harris' mistress) are amongst the new staff. This episode in Harris' career in journalism is one of the most bizarre. It is difficult to picture the outspoken, roaring, desk-banging Harris editing a magazine which was supposed to supply an undemanding read for middleclass Edwardian women, but he did, although according to Kingsmill and Bagnold they did most of the work. |
November 16 1912 |
Travels to America on a lecture tour. |
? 1913 |
Abandons Hearth and Home. |
? 1913 |
Unpath'd Waters published. |
August 1913 |
Takes up Modern Society |
1914-1920 War, The Downward Slide
February 1914 |
Sent to Brixton Prison, London for contempt of court. |
March 1914 |
Out of prison, returns to Nice |
June 1914 |
In a precarious financial situation, searches for work in Paris |
August 1914 |
Britain declares war on Germany |
September 1914 |
Arrives back in England, using the pseudonym 'Frank Vernon' to avoid the attentions of the bankruptcy court. Stays with Lady Warwick, whose autobiography he is contracted to write. This was supposed to feature revelations relating to the then King, Edward VII, about an affair he had with her when he was Prince of Wales, and whose letters she still had in her possession. In the end it all came to nothing. |
October 1914 |
Sails for America |
? 1914 |
Great Days published |
? 1914 |
The Yellow Ticket and other Stories published |
January 1915 |
Publishes England or Germany? which takes the German side in the war. Understandably the British press attacked him and he fell out with Nellie as well. |
July 1915 |
The first Contemporary Portraits published. |
November 1915 |
Appointed advertising manager for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (!) |
April 1916 |
Sacked as advertising manager. |
? 1916 |
Oscar Wilde published. |
? 1916 |
Love in Youth published. |
October 1916 |
Made editor of the American Pearson's magazine |
? 1919 |
Second of the Contemporary Portraits published. |
? 1920 |
Third of the Contemporary Portraits published. |
? 1920 |
A Mad Love published. |
1921-1931 "Life and Loves", The End
April 1921 |
He and Nellie become American citizens |
End 1921 |
Pearson's arranged to be sold, they return to Nice, where he starts planning his autobiography |
June 1922 |
Returns to America |
September 1922 |
Finally shot of Pearson's |
November 1922 |
Travels to Berlin, where he has the first volume of the Life and Loves printed. |
Christmas 1922 |
Nellie makes her debut as a singer. Nellie had been taking lessons for some time, much to Frank's annoyance. Apparently the debut was not a success. |
January 1923 |
Arrives in Paris. He tries to get his books brought into France, but they are seized by the authorities. Returns to Nice, where he starts on the next two volumes of the autobiography. |
January 1924 |
Aleister Crowley comes to stay for a while. He has similar money troubles to Frank and an equal hypochondria. |
March 1924 |
Buys the Paris Evening Telegram, but cannot find the money required and has to give it up. |
? 1924 |
Undream'd of Shores, another volume of short stories, published. |
? 1924 |
Fourth of the Contemporary Portraits published. |
? 1926 |
Publishes Joan La Romèe, a play he had written some years earlier. |
September 22 1927 |
Emily Harris dies, aged 89. |
? 1927 |
Latest Contemporary Portraits published. |
October 15 1927 |
Marries Nellie. |
November 10 1928 |
Arrives in America again. By now his health is poor. |
January 1929 |
Returns to Nice |
January 1930 |
Contracts to write a biography of Shaw. This was written with the help of Frank Scully, and finally of Shaw himself. |
? 1930 |
On the Trail: Being My Reminiscences as a Cowboy published |
? 1930 |
Pantopia published |
August 27 1931 |
Dies, aged 75, after a heart attack. |
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